


Hiroko Knows

by PaintingWithWords (paint_with_words)



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Character's Name Spelled as Viktor, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Getting Together, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2019-03-21 11:00:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13739466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paint_with_words/pseuds/PaintingWithWords
Summary: Sometimes, people don't realize they're in love.  Sometimes, they need a little push.





	Hiroko Knows

Hiroko watched as Yuuri pushed away his half-eaten bowl of katsudon, laid his head down on his folded arms, and closed his eyes.  He looked exhausted, poor thing, like he was about to fall asleep right there at the table.  Across from him, Viktor set down his empty bowl and looked over at Yuuri with a concerned frown.

“Yuuri,” Viktor said softly, “you didn’t finish your katsudon.  Do you feel alright?”  Hiroko thought he sounded a little worried.  Viktor was so good to her son…

“I’m too tired to eat it,” Yuuri replied, his voice small and sleepy. 

“Why don’t I save it for you,” Hiroko said.  “You can have it tomorrow if you want.” 

“That’s fine,” Yuuri murmured, never lifting his head from his arms or opening his eyes. 

“I’ll go put it up,” she said, patting him gently on the shoulder.   Quickly, she gathered their bowls and took them into the kitchen to give Yuuri and Viktor a little privacy.  She could hear Viktor talking to Yuuri, but she couldn’t catch all the words from this distance.   It didn’t matter:  Viktor was taking care of Yuuri and it made her happy to see that her son had found someone who loved him.

Happily humming to herself, she wrapped up Yuuri’s leftovers and put them in the refrigerator.  As she placed the other dishes in the sink, Viktor stuck his head around the corner and favored her with a wide, but weary, smile.  She could just see Yuuri behind him, tiredly rubbing at his eyes under his glasses and barely on his feet. 

“Yuuri’s still tired from the competition in China,” Viktor said. “I think we’re going to head to bed for the night.  We’ll see you in the morning.”

“Good night, you two,” Hiroko said, giving Viktor an affectionate pat on the upper arm as she moved past him to wrap her arms around Yuuri in a tight hug.  “We’re so incredibly proud of you, Yuuri!  You did a great job in Beijing!”

“Thank you, Kaasan,” he said, hugging her back.  When he came home a few months ago, he would have accepted her hug reluctantly, and he certainly wouldn’t have returned it.  He’d never liked physical contact very much, not even as a small child.  But now, he seemed a bit more willing to open up than he ever had been before, and Hiroko knew she had Viktor to thank for the change in her son. 

Hiroko watched them slowly head up the stairs, Yuuri first, with Viktor right behind him, a supportive hand spread across the small of Yuuri’s back.  Viktor was saying something in English about the importance of a good night’s sleep, but the rest of whatever he said was lost as they climbed the stairs.  A few moments later, she followed them, a basket of folded towels in her arms.

She hadn’t expected to find Yuuri and Viktor having a discussion in the hall outside of Viktor’s room.

“-sure it’s just a misunderstanding,” Viktor said, one hand resting lightly on Yuuri’s shoulder.  Yuuri looked like he was about to say something in reply, but his gaze fell on Hiroko as she walked into the hallway, and he turned to face her, an embarrassed half-smile on his face. 

“I think there’s been a mistake,” Yuuri said in English.  “Somehow, both of our suitcases got put in Viktor’s room.”

“Oh, there was no mistake, Yuuri,” she replied kindly, using the same language.  Yuuri swallowed nervously and behind him, Viktor’s eyes widened in surprise.  Why did they both look so shocked?  Did they really think that she didn’t know?

“Wh- why was my suitcase put in Viktor’s room?” Yuuri stammered, slipping into Japanese.  Viktor shot a confused look at Yuuri, not understanding what Yuuri was saying. 

_‘Oh my sweet little Yuu-kun, you really need to teach Vicchan how to speak Japanese,’_ Hiroko thought to herself.  She favored her son with a warm smile.

“Well,” she answered, “since you declared your love for Viktor and he kissed you in Beijing, we thought-”

“Wait, wait- _what_ did I say about Viktor?” Yuuri asked, swallowing convulsively.  “When did I say…” he bit his lower lip and quickly glanced at Viktor before he looked back at her, “when did I say that?”

“When you talked about your theme for the year at the press conference,” Hiroko replied.  “You said you finally knew what love was and that you’d found it with Vi-”

“AAH!!” Yuuri cried, his hands flying up to cover his mouth.  “Oh my God, I can’t believe-”

“Yuuri, what is it?  What’s going on?” Viktor cut in, reaching out to put a hand on Yuuri’s shoulder to calm him.  Hiroko’s smile widened at the gesture.  It did her heart good to see that her son had finally found someone that loved and cared about him so much.

“My mother says I-”

“Why don’t the two of you go in there,” Hiroko said, switching back to English as she pointed towards what had been Viktor’s room, “and talk about it, hmm?” 

Yuuri started to protest, but Viktor gently took him by the shoulders and began to guide him into the room. 

“I think that’s a good idea,” Viktor agreed as he herded Yuuri inside.  “Have a good night.  We’ll see you in the morning.”

“Sleep well, you two,” Hiroko said cheerily.  She turned to leave as Viktor made Yuuri sit down on the edge of the bed and came back to shut the door.  Her smile blossomed into a wide grin as she made her way to the linen closet and put up the towels. 

Half an hour later, she was sweeping the kitchen when Viktor reappeared, peeking his head around the corner.  He looked at her cautiously.

“Oh, hello again Vicchan!” she said, leaning the broom against the wall and walking towards him.  “Do you need something?  Is Yuuri hungry?” 

“No,” Viktor replied.  “Ah… Yuuri… we talked a little, but he’s asleep now.  I don’t think he got a lot of sleep while we were away.”  Hiroko watched him carefully, noting how his expression softened when he talked about her son.  It was enough to make her heart melt.

“Then what can I get for you?” she asked.  “Are you hungry or thirsty?”

“No, I’m fine, thank you,” he said, glancing down for a second before fixing her with his bright blue eyes, “but I do have some questions for you.”

“Go ahead,” she said, wondering what he’d ask.  He looked almost as nervous as Toshiya had right before he proposed to her.

Viktor took a deep breath, as if he was uncertain what to say or what to say first.  Hiroko waited patiently, letting him take his time and build up his courage. 

“Why didn’t anyone tell me what Yuuri said when he talked about this year’s theme?” Viktor said finally.  She looked into his face, but his expression was unreadable.  Clearly he didn’t want to give anything away.

“Oh, we thought you already knew,” Hiroko replied, giving him a kind smile.  “We can all see how you feel about each other and we’re happy you love Yuuri as much as he loves you.  And since you’ve both declared your love for each other on television, we figured you might as well share the same room.”

Viktor seemed at a loss for words and stared at her, dumbfounded.  She smiled at him gently.  Apparently, this was news to him, but not unwanted news.  She didn’t care what he said, no one put their entire life on hold and flew halfway around the world to coach someone because they saw a video on the internet.  And you didn’t leap out on the ice during a skating competition to kiss someone just because they did something that surprised you.

Hiroko reached out and affectionately patted his hand.

“Why don’t you sit down with Yuuri and talk to him some more in the morning?”

“I intend to,” Viktor said.  And then he took her in his arms and hugged her, squishing her face into his chest.  Yuuri’s height made her feel small, but Viktor’s made her feel tiny.  Laughing, she hugged him back, hoping this would be the first hug of many.

“Thank you,” he whispered as he hugged her.  “Thank you so much.”

He let her go and headed back towards the stairs.  After a few steps, he turned around, a quiet smile on his face, and said, “And to think that all this time, I thought everyone hated his suit as much as I did.”  He gave her a little self-depreciating half-smile, then turned and climbed the stairs.

Hiroko watched him go, another wide smile lighting up her face.  When she was alone again, she picked up the broom and went back to sweeping the kitchen.

~~~~~

“How’d it go?” Toshiya asked her later that evening as she got into bed.  ~~~~

“About how I thought it would.” Hiroko pulled the covers up around her waist and picked her book up off the nightstand.

Toshiya turned the page on the sports section of the paper.  “You had to explain it to him, didn’t you?”

“Of course I did.  You know that boy’s no good at expressing how he feels.”  She opened her book, pulled the bookmark out, and laid it on her lap.

“What’s worse is I had to tell both of them.”

Toshiya snorted and put down the paper he’d been reading.  She turned her head to find him regarding her with an bemused expression.

“Both of them?  Oh dear.  I would have thought that Vicchan would have had some sense.  Well, they’re definitely cut out for one another, aren’t they?”

“They are indeed,” she agreed.  “A perfect match.”

Toshiya went back to his paper and she started reading her book, picking up where she’d left off last night.  A few moments later, her husband murmured, “Are we ever going to tell Viktor that we knew exactly who he was when he walked in here?”

“No,” she replied without looking up from her book. “That’ll be our little secret.”

**Author's Note:**

> You can't tell me that Hiroko didn't know. And I suspect Toshiya did, too. 
> 
> Thank you all so much for reading! As always, comments & kudos are appreciated. You can read more of my fics [here](http://archiveofourown.org/users/paint_with_words/works).


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